Anyone hand wash their clothes?
- Thread starter Kala
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freemotion
Food Guru
Skills are more important than stockpiling items of the typical American diet, that is for sure. Skills all the way, baby. I know how to make sourdough from wild yeast from the air and how to collect yeast from wild grapes. And where to find the grapes. Do I do this for my occasional homemade bread? Too much work, not yummy enough. Could I if I need to? Oh, yeah. And then it would be delicious and a commodity I could trade with for stuff others have that I want. You betcha.
We'll be the only ones with really clean clothes!
We'll be the only ones with really clean clothes!
Dirk Chesterfield
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I lived in a big family. Getting "washer" time was a hassle, you either wear your clothes several days or jump on the wash sink and do a couple loads yourself. As the oldest of 9, I just buckled down and hand washed. It kept me out of trouble.
Mom had a rule, if you do your laundry with the washing machine and drier then you had to finish what was in-process, invariably it meant doing a load of cotton diapers. I hate washing diapers. They make me vomit. With a 17 year spread in our ages there was always diapers to do. There is nothing like running out of underwear for 3 days either, must be why I own 30 pairs now. I swear we never had a clean towel, remember drying off with a t-shirt many a day.
Back then the washers weren't very good at rinsing out bleach and stuff either. Wearing bleach stained denim wasn't cool, it was anathema, made you an outcast of suspect character. I always hand washed my jeans, flannel, colored t-shirts and underwear. Diaper = Chlorine Bleach = Bleached Denim. Mom was always dying stuff in the washer too. I hate RIT dye. I remember many days my legs turned color right after Mom dyed our corduroys to get a few more months wear out of them.
Here is a cool little article about hand washing history. http://caversham.otago.ac.nz/resource/domestic/blue_monday.html
And some tools to do it.
I just used the plunger we kept at the wash sink. It worked good.
Fondly remember beating the ice out of my winter line dried blue jeans so I could wear them to school that day.
Mom had a rule, if you do your laundry with the washing machine and drier then you had to finish what was in-process, invariably it meant doing a load of cotton diapers. I hate washing diapers. They make me vomit. With a 17 year spread in our ages there was always diapers to do. There is nothing like running out of underwear for 3 days either, must be why I own 30 pairs now. I swear we never had a clean towel, remember drying off with a t-shirt many a day.
Back then the washers weren't very good at rinsing out bleach and stuff either. Wearing bleach stained denim wasn't cool, it was anathema, made you an outcast of suspect character. I always hand washed my jeans, flannel, colored t-shirts and underwear. Diaper = Chlorine Bleach = Bleached Denim. Mom was always dying stuff in the washer too. I hate RIT dye. I remember many days my legs turned color right after Mom dyed our corduroys to get a few more months wear out of them.
Here is a cool little article about hand washing history. http://caversham.otago.ac.nz/resource/domestic/blue_monday.html
And some tools to do it.
I just used the plunger we kept at the wash sink. It worked good.
Fondly remember beating the ice out of my winter line dried blue jeans so I could wear them to school that day.
mlynd
Almost Self-Reliant
I have a plunger washer I'm now looking for a ringer and a old wash tub for me it is about saving money I don't work in the spring and summer months and DH is unemployed at the moment so I have time to do these things to save money and with 4 girls there is plenty of help around and with everything thast is going on in our country i would rather have skills and a little money for the things I can make or do with out So the SS life is for me but I'm taking it a step at the time
adoptedbyachicken
Lovin' The Homestead
I have cleaned this up for some argumentative posts. If you have experience that you shoose to share please do so within the rules.
For myself I'm using the 'solar drying' far more often now and most of my clothes last longer for it. I think the dryer is very hard in terms of wear and tear on fabric, especially anything with anything lyra or elastic like bras and socks.
I don't mind hand washing small things but I can't see myself moving on to anything big. I have a bit of a tricky SI joint and I can't risk my back being sore and not going to work over that. I got a high capacity washer and use it to the best of it's ability to reduce water use and time. Drying sheets over the back of the couch or over the coffee table, or dining room chairs in winter solves my humidity issues too, with geothermal heating our house is way too dry.
For myself I'm using the 'solar drying' far more often now and most of my clothes last longer for it. I think the dryer is very hard in terms of wear and tear on fabric, especially anything with anything lyra or elastic like bras and socks.
I don't mind hand washing small things but I can't see myself moving on to anything big. I have a bit of a tricky SI joint and I can't risk my back being sore and not going to work over that. I got a high capacity washer and use it to the best of it's ability to reduce water use and time. Drying sheets over the back of the couch or over the coffee table, or dining room chairs in winter solves my humidity issues too, with geothermal heating our house is way too dry.
ohiogoatgirl
Lovin' The Homestead
i would like to handwash my clothes but i usually end up tossing them in the washer and dryer...
i only have one pair of jeans so it wouldnt bother me to toss em in with dad's clothes if i wore em... which i dont very often.
when ya wear mostly skirts and t-shirts/tank tops then there isnt really anything too bulky.
i only have one pair of jeans so it wouldnt bother me to toss em in with dad's clothes if i wore em... which i dont very often.
when ya wear mostly skirts and t-shirts/tank tops then there isnt really anything too bulky.
Leta
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I used to hand wash almost everything when we (just DH and I then) lived in an apartment. I put a plastic tote in the bathtub for big things, and had a 5 gallon pail for smaller things. Water was included in our rent, but the apartment had no laundry hookups, despite being huge- two bedrooms, an office, a sunroom, a dining room, a kitchen with a porch, and 300 sq ft living room with a giant fireplace in it. Thus, I had a lot of space to hang things to dry. The only laundry machines in the building were in the basement, and we were on the top (3rd) floor, no elevator. Plus the machines barely worked and were nasty. Handwashing was less of a pain and WAAAY cheaper.
DH was a chef at a country club, so we had a manual 5 gallon salad spinner on rotating loan. He'd bring it home once a week, I'd use it, he'd take it back to work (relax, he'd run it thru the washer and the sanitizer before it got used for greens). I'd really like to get a wringer, but they cost $100 new and haven't been able to find one used... yet!
I had a broomstick with holes drilled in either end and a length of chain thru the holes. I kept in the linen closet. I installed two plant hooks over the bathtub and in front of the fireplace, and I'd hang the broomstick from them by the chains. This was my laundry drying rod. After I washed and spun my clothes, I'd put them on hangers (sometimes I had to clothespin them onto hangers) and hang them from the broomstick. If it was cold or someone needed a shower right away, I'd hand them in front of the fireplace, but usually I just left them in the shower.
Large linens were trickier. I was still using machines for those when, one day I was leaning waaay out the sunroom window to look at a bird's nest and found an ancient pulley on the side of the building. I showed it to DH, who sanded it and WD40'd it, put it back up, and then talked to the neighbors and got a clothesline hung. It was always fun hanging sheets on that, I felt like an Italian American, turn of the century, New York housewife.
I think that in order for 100% hand washing to be practical, you need:
-Equipment, specifically a water removal device, be it a spinner or a wringer, and some type of agitator, as well as appropriately sized basins.
-A means to dry. An outdoor line is great, but unless you live in SoCal, you probably will need to dry indoors some of the time. ( In our house, with a bunch of kids and a bunch of pets, this is tough to come by. We only really have space in the damp basement, so it can take awhile. I've been trying to figure out a way to put some sort of air dryer over our pellet stove in such a way that the pets/kids cannot swing from it/knock it over.)
-A three person or less household, or a two person or more laundry squad.
I have often thought of using a dehumidifier as part of an air drying regimen, but it freaks me out, because we have never paid more than $100 for a dryer, and a dehumidifier would cost us $150+. Also, since we switched to a front loader and a gas dryer, our utilities have gone way, way down. Despite our water rates being raised a lot, our bill has stayed the same, and we have our gas down to $88/mo, year round (dryer, hot water, range, and boiler heat) and our electric down to $77/mo despite the highest electric rates in the state (we use 350 kWh/mo as a family of five). I am afraid that, because dehumidifiers are hogs and we'd have to have the thing on virtually all the time, it would cost us more than our dryer does- it certainly would cost us more in electricity, and I don't think that would balance the relatively small gas savings, since I line dry outdoors whenever I can.
On the other hand, for an apartment dweller (especially if electricity is included in the rent!) or someone else with no laundry hookups, I can see how a dehumidifier would work very well, since it's just plug 'n play.
DH was a chef at a country club, so we had a manual 5 gallon salad spinner on rotating loan. He'd bring it home once a week, I'd use it, he'd take it back to work (relax, he'd run it thru the washer and the sanitizer before it got used for greens). I'd really like to get a wringer, but they cost $100 new and haven't been able to find one used... yet!
I had a broomstick with holes drilled in either end and a length of chain thru the holes. I kept in the linen closet. I installed two plant hooks over the bathtub and in front of the fireplace, and I'd hang the broomstick from them by the chains. This was my laundry drying rod. After I washed and spun my clothes, I'd put them on hangers (sometimes I had to clothespin them onto hangers) and hang them from the broomstick. If it was cold or someone needed a shower right away, I'd hand them in front of the fireplace, but usually I just left them in the shower.
Large linens were trickier. I was still using machines for those when, one day I was leaning waaay out the sunroom window to look at a bird's nest and found an ancient pulley on the side of the building. I showed it to DH, who sanded it and WD40'd it, put it back up, and then talked to the neighbors and got a clothesline hung. It was always fun hanging sheets on that, I felt like an Italian American, turn of the century, New York housewife.
I think that in order for 100% hand washing to be practical, you need:
-Equipment, specifically a water removal device, be it a spinner or a wringer, and some type of agitator, as well as appropriately sized basins.
-A means to dry. An outdoor line is great, but unless you live in SoCal, you probably will need to dry indoors some of the time. ( In our house, with a bunch of kids and a bunch of pets, this is tough to come by. We only really have space in the damp basement, so it can take awhile. I've been trying to figure out a way to put some sort of air dryer over our pellet stove in such a way that the pets/kids cannot swing from it/knock it over.)
-A three person or less household, or a two person or more laundry squad.
I have often thought of using a dehumidifier as part of an air drying regimen, but it freaks me out, because we have never paid more than $100 for a dryer, and a dehumidifier would cost us $150+. Also, since we switched to a front loader and a gas dryer, our utilities have gone way, way down. Despite our water rates being raised a lot, our bill has stayed the same, and we have our gas down to $88/mo, year round (dryer, hot water, range, and boiler heat) and our electric down to $77/mo despite the highest electric rates in the state (we use 350 kWh/mo as a family of five). I am afraid that, because dehumidifiers are hogs and we'd have to have the thing on virtually all the time, it would cost us more than our dryer does- it certainly would cost us more in electricity, and I don't think that would balance the relatively small gas savings, since I line dry outdoors whenever I can.
On the other hand, for an apartment dweller (especially if electricity is included in the rent!) or someone else with no laundry hookups, I can see how a dehumidifier would work very well, since it's just plug 'n play.
S
sunsaver
Guest
I use a wash tub that is plumbed up to water and has a drain. I use the wash board, upside down, as a man-powered agitator. I have a clothes line in the sun, on the screened porch, and above my wood burning stove, for sunny, rainy, and cold days.
At Christmas time, my stockings are literally "hung by the fireplace with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas will soon be there."
At Christmas time, my stockings are literally "hung by the fireplace with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas will soon be there."
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
If you can find the old galvanized washtubs with the hand cranked wringer attachment, it would be the most efficient way to go.
We used to have a hand cranked wringer on our washtubs when we lived off grid and it was invaluable. And, yes, we teenagers were the operators of such equipment....didn't hurt us a bit to work.
When you wash your clothing by hand you will find you use and reuse clothing and generate less dirty laundry than you would if you had machines.
If one doesn't work outside the home, I can't see why time can't be alotted for laundry, just like any other lengthy chore.
We used to have a hand cranked wringer on our washtubs when we lived off grid and it was invaluable. And, yes, we teenagers were the operators of such equipment....didn't hurt us a bit to work.
When you wash your clothing by hand you will find you use and reuse clothing and generate less dirty laundry than you would if you had machines.
If one doesn't work outside the home, I can't see why time can't be alotted for laundry, just like any other lengthy chore.
wooddustmaker
Lovin' The Homestead
Haven't posted in quite some time, but I do run my washer out in the yard, since it leaks too much to put it in the house. Hand washing no, unless I had to have clean socks. Everything else could rot off of my body, but I have to have clean socks. Been hanging stuff to dry on my makeshift clothes line. Slowly getting used to the stiffness of it all. The biggest thing I miss about a dryer is that, with my slender build, I need the heat of the dryer to make jeans fit. Not a big deal, just tighten the old belt up a notch. Just don't like the extra wrinkle marks on a hot day. Hanging on a line also requires me to plan my laundry around other things, such as work clothes, so they will be mostly dry when I have to go to work. Sure saves on electricity though.
